The Best Things To Be Aware Of For Use On Your CSET

Future educators studying for the CSET examination need to know about the Colonial Period in American literature.

American literature describes written or literary work created in the region of the United States and Colonial America.

During its early history, the United States was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Hence, its literary custom will begin as linked to the wider custom of English literature. Having said that, unique American features and also the width of its production usually now cause it to be described as a independent path and tradition.

Early on American Literature to 1700 and Puritanism

Two Important New England Settlements:

The Plymouth Colony

Flagship Mayflower arrives - 1620
Leader - William Bradford
Settlers known as Pilgrims and Separatists
"The Mayflower Compact" offers religious, economic, and social freedom, whilst still retaining connections to Great Britain.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony

Flagship Arbella reaches its destination - 1630
Leader - John Winthrop
Settlers are mainly Puritans or Congregational Puritans
"The Arbella Covenant" clearly establishes a spiritual and theocratic settlement, free from connections to Great Britain.

I. Fundamental Puritan Beliefs

1. Total Depravity - via Adam and Eve's fall, every individual is born sinful - idea of Original Sin.

2. Unconditional Election - God "saves" people he wishes - only a few are chosen for salvation - notion of predestination.

3. Limited Atonement - Jesus perished for the selected only, not for everybody.

4. Irresistible Grace - The lord's love is freely given, it cannot be earned or refused. Grace pertains to the saving and transfiguring power of God.

5. Domination of the "saints" - people selected by God to possess complete power to interpret the will of God, and also to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after experiencing its power within his life, he will be going against the will of God - something extremely hard in Puritanism.

Typology: The belief that God's motives are mixed together within human action and within natural phenomenon. Failing to know these objectives are human limitations. Puritans believed in cyclical or repeating history; they use "types" - Moses prefigures Jesus, Jonah's fortitude is resembled in Jesus' tribulation on the cross, and Moses' journey out of Egypt is played out in the Pilgrims' crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. God's wrath and reward are also contained in natural phenomena like flooding, bountiful harvest, the invasion of locusts, and also the lightening striking a home.

Manifest Destiny: The idea of manifest destiny is as old as the very first New England settlements. Without using the words, John Winthrop articulated the concept in his well-known sermon, the Arbella Covenant (1630), when he said: " ... for we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; ..." Winthrop exhorts his listeners to carry on God's mission and to set a perfect example for the rest of the world. Out of this beginning, the concept has experienced religious, cultural, economic, as well as political implications. The words manifest destiny were first used by editor John L. O'Sullivan in 1845.

Backsliding: The belief that "saved" believers, those with noticeable signs of grace, can get into temptation and become sinners. To stop this, believers had been expected not to become smug, do constant soul-searching, be introspective, and pray constantly. Satan was especially enthusiastic about snaring these kinds of believers.

Early Colonial Period Authors to Study

William Bradford

Anne Bradstreet

Anne Hutchinson

Cotton Mather

Thomas Morton

Mary White Rowlandson

Samuel Sewall

Thomas Shepard

John Smith

Edward Taylor

Michael Wigglesworth

Roger Williams

John Winthrop